Ben's Key Part II
by Jimmy 144
Summary: Claudia, Myka and Pete set out to get some artifacts. Part II of Ben's Key, after Reset, HG left behind a few other artifacts that have to be collected. The team continues to track them down in Part II. Chapter 5 posted, still at the Mausoleum.
1. Chapter 1 a New Ping

Let us do something, while we have the chance.

Just something for the fun of it. Hope you enjoy. I don't own Warehouse 13.

"What really matters is what you do with what you have."  
- H. G. Wells

Part II

Chapter 1—a New Ping

**Warehouse 13**

Claudia was still trying to track the activities of Mrs. Frederic and the others involved in getting HG Wells last artifacts back. After retrieving the key in Philadelphia, Vanessa was adamant that Claudia needed a week's rest. While Claudia pleaded to go with Todd for a week off, no one agreed that it would be much rest. They were so positive that she had to go back, Vanessa went with her. To say that she was upset was a mild explanation. Claudia had to leave Todd at the hotel shortly after breakfast. She had other plans but they were for not. Not giving up on the activities she had heard from Mrs. Frederic, she tried to follow them using the Warehouse computers.

Since Artie was gone and as usual there was no explanation, she assumed that he was a part of the mission. Vanessa had given Pete the okay to start light work. So Pete and Myka were gone to retrieve an artifact that had something to do with eating too much turkey. Everyone said Pete would be fine. The only thing he had to do was eat a lot of turkey. He said that he would love a little holiday spirit and left with a smile on his face and finger tapping the side of his nose.

Vanessa was coming back tomorrow and would give Claudia the final okay. She felt fine, just a little mope with no one around. She was reading the new results from the searches she performed. She had seen a battle in central Africa had a surprising twist to it. The underdog came out ahead. When she read the summaries of the incident she was sure the game had something to do with the turn around. She was surprised by the number of small battles that occurred after the one she thought the game influenced. Today's reports included news of a huge storm in the area. Roads were washed out and several villages were flooded.

Claudia was surprised to hear her Farnsworth going off. She flipped the cover and John Dawes face was there. It could have been the display, but his hair did seem to be whiter than it was when she saw him last week. "Yeah John, what's up?"

"It was a trap," John said rapidly.

Claudia became instantly concerned. Pete and Myka were in trouble. She was almost afraid to ask, "What happened?"

"The two of them were killed." He paused to collect his thoughts.

Claudia's thoughts went wild. Pete and Myke killed. That could not be. "John, what happened?" she said again.

"When they went in the retrieve the bomb, two of the Regents were killed. Artie and Mrs. Frederic were captured. And they probably have the artifacts that were being used." John concluded.

"What can we do?" asked Claudia.

"Well, I was hoping that you would have some way of tracking them. They were breaking into the camp of the New African Liberation Force at Mogafar. I believe there was a firefight when they were trying to leave. I was in contact with Mrs. Frederic when it was happening. She relayed that Regents were killed by machine gun fire and then someone took her Farnsworth. He said rapidly in French, 'we have them now.' Then he smashed the Farnsworth. I was hoping that Artie's phone was still working and maybe you could track it." John ended on a hopeful note.

'_Okay, another thing they'd never let me do. Everything had to stay secret. Artie never wanted us to know where everyone is.' _Claudia did not answer right away.

John asked again, "Can you do it?"

Claudia knew exactly what it would take and what the results would be. She answered, "Yes, it will be about an hour to step it up. And you know once I do it, I'll be able to track all of the Farnsworth devices?"

"That's good. We'll be able to tell if there is anyone nearby that could help." John then asked, "What are Pete and Myka doing?"

"There are tracking down an artifact that makes people sleep for a week or so after they eat a holiday meal like turkey and stuffing," Claudia was already typing something into the computer.

"Well, we'll let Aunt Bertha have a nice holiday nap. Get a hold of them and tell them to meet us at my bank. Claudia, do what you can to set up that tracking then transfer it over to my computers. I'll send you the link. When you are done, I'll have a jet waiting for you at the county airport." John asked at the end, "Do you need anything?"

"No, I have everything I'll need," Claudia replied. They ended the conversation.

And Claudia called Myka, "Hey, need you and Pete to head up to John's bank in Philadelphia. John believes the big tag and bag Artie and Mrs. Frederic were on was a trap. The two Regents were killed. He thinks Artie and Mrs. Frederic have been captured along with the artifacts that were being used. I am supposed to meet you up there. John has a plane coming out to pick me up."

Myka was shocked, "We are only a couple hours away. We'll drive over and meet at the bank."

"Okay, see you then," Claudia hung up and began her searches for Artie's Farnsworth.

**Philadelphia**

The limo pulled up to the bank and Henry got the door for Claudia. John was waiting at the door of the bank. He said, "Thank you for coming." When Claudia got to the door, he gave her a hug. "Myka and Pete are waiting in my office. They are reviewing the information your tracking system developed."

"Sweet," Claudia was a bit surprised. When she set up the search, she only found her Farnsworth. She hoped for more, but knew that she better get out to the plane that was waiting for her. She could barely imagine that there was a real plane and crew waiting for her. She put some quick instructions into the computer and sent the links to John. Grabbing what she thought might help she bolted out of the warehouse. She knew that the search would continue while she was traveling and was happy that she was getting information.

Once again they walked past the electronic tellers. There was only one person at the tellers. Then down the hall with the e-loan machines, there was no one there. Claudia asked off hand, "Slow day?"

John looked around and then smiled at Claudia, "No, actually it appears to be working. From what we had last year at this time, there are twice as many accounts and we are handling three times the number of transactions. Our customers are getting used to the electronic banking and we are growing."

They got to the door for his office. John opened the door and allowed Claudia to go in first. He saw her going to the desk and said, "Oh, please wait. We have to use the elevator." He pushed a button on wall and the wood panel opened to an elevator car. He motioned for Claudia to get in. He punched a button on the control panel and another panel was revealed. He pushed B6. The elevator began to descend.

"What, you don't have the penthouse for your office?" Claudia asked.

"Oh no, not with the price of a penthouse. We rent the upper floors. It's one of our more profitable investments," John smiled as the elevator went down to the sixth subbasement level.

The door opened and Claudia walked out into what she thought was her own version of Christmas Toyland. The walls were large panel displays. She had to try one and found that it was a touch screen display. She was impressed that the normal warehouse displays were easily accessible. Then she noticed the other displays and was even more impressed. She saw Pete and Myka working at stations that had three monitors with keyboard built into the workstation. She smiled when she saw that Pete was only using one monitor. "This is truly incredible and more than what we have. Why?"

"Well, as you know the warehouse system gets alerts, I think you call them pings, on anomalies that might be the result of an artifact. My system includes that and goes an additional layer adding the inputs from contributing nations." John knew the next question, "We found during World War II that the more direct information we got the faster we could react. With the type of artifacts I am charge with, I have to be able to determine whether large world changing events could have been caused by an artifact. While a weapon of mass destruction is well within the mission, a government change, a new revolutionary religion, or even a UFO can be included."

That got Pete's attention, "Hey Claud. You mean like Roswell or…"

John held up his hand, "Sorry Pete, it was just an example. And the answer is no, none, nothing real. Really the most interesting thing lately was NASA finding an Arsenic life form."

Claudia looked at the displays again, "So did it work?"

Myka spoke up and made a circle on the map on the wall from her workstation, "Yes, it's great. His Farnsworth is somewhere around here."

"Show off," Pete was still bumbling with his single display and Myka had something on all of her displays and was linked into the wall displays.

"Well, if you would listen to the instructions instead of looking for the Texas Hold'em site…" Myka complained.

Claudia was smiling at the exchange. She was happy they were back together and this showed it was working. She walked over to the wall display and expanded the view in the area and overlaid a satellite map. "So, the phone is on a boat or ship off Salerno, Italy? What can we do about it?"

_A/N Please review. _


	2. Chapter 2 Old Stories

Let us do something, while we have the chance.

Just something for the fun of it. Hope you enjoy. I don't own Warehouse 13.

"What really matters is what you do with what you have."  
- H. G. Wells

Part II

Chapter 2—Old Stories

**Philadelphia**

Claudia had walked over to the wall display in John's underground office. She had expanded the view in the area of Artie's Farnsworth. Then with overlaid satellite map, she could see where the signal was coming from, the ocean beside Italy. "So, the phone is on a boat or ship off Salerno, Italy? What can we do about it?"

"I got some old buddies that were Seals," Pete began.

John held his hand up for Pete to stop. "I know these waters. We had to study them for the landing."

Pete had heard enough from Claudia and Myka to know that John was actively fighting the Nazis in WWII. It made sense that he could have been in the landings at Salerno. He had remembered some of it from his training, "So, were you with the 5th Army?"

"No, I was assigned to the Rangers and Tim Crotchet was with the British Commandos. We spent hours going over everything about the harbors and currents." John added.

Claudia remembered looking up Tim's information. He was a Warehouse agent also and John said they were partners. "Both of you went to the landing at Salerno? Okay, there has to be more. What was happening?"

John smiled at Claudia. She was right again. She really did have potential. "We had finished our job in Africa. There we were retrieving Hannibal's Tusk. One of those war artifacts that when used properly causes the opposing force to turn and retreat.

"For Salerno we were initially scheduled to go in with the airborne units. By the time they were thinking of the drops near Rome, we had switched to the Rangers and Commandos. The thought at the time was that with the two of us in different landings one of us would make the objective. The backup was an OSS agent at Naples. Bernie Rogers was his name. We never did hear what happened to him but he did not make it."

John saw that they were interested. He enjoyed telling a good story, so he continued. "We did not know what kind of opposition we were going to receive. Our intelligence at the time gave us reports that the 16th Panzer Division was in place at Salerno. We continued to be appraised at the opposing deployments. We landed on the ninth of September. There was no opposition at the beach. We landed to the west of Salerno at a little town called Maiori. Tim and the Commandos landed over near a town called Vietri sul Mare. They had no opposition either. As fast as we could we moved up the pass north of Maiori.

"We were about a mile up the pass when we came under fire from two emplacements. Fortunately we got support from HMS Ledbury. We will able to direct their fire to the opposition and made it to our objective at the top of the pass. Tim and his unit were able link up with us and get to our objective. It overlooked Naples. His unit had no problems either. One of the Commando units did encounter a recon element of the 10th Panzers." He paused and got a drink of coffee.

Pete asked this time, "But that wasn't why you were assigned to the Rangers and Tim to the Commando's. What were you after?"

"While it was an honor to be with the Rangers and Commandos, we were there to link up with Bernie and extract a few artifacts from near Naples. We waited a day at the designated point. He did not come.

"Tim and I worked our way down the mountain pass toward Naples and got to a mausoleum at the foot of the mountain. At the back of the mausoleum there was a tunnel. The tunnel led into the mountain. It was a sizeable cave that had been carved out of the rock. There was a chapel area and several separate tombs. Our job was to find one special tomb. It was Sir Edward Philo Molay's resting place. We believe he was one of the original Knights Templar and a Crusader. His resting place contained a shield and sword. They had been used by the Medici to help consolidate power."

Myka was aghast, "They put something so powerful back in its original place?"

"Remember, hiding something in the open?" John saw her nod her head, "Well, this was the first of my classes on the effectiveness of hiding something in the open. The shield and sword had been in the tomb since the early 1700s. Before that it had been taken out and used at least four times. Each of those times could be traced to historical records. Those records take it all the way back to the date when Sir Edward would have been traveling back to Rome and died in 1157 just outside of Naples.

"Even though we knew the general inscription on the front of the shield we almost missed it. It was not in Sir Edward's tomb but clearly displayed in the chapel. And we were counting our blessings. We knew of the existence of the shield and sword since the beginning of the war. We had indications of it being in mausoleums scattered throughout Europe. It wasn't until we got a copy of a letter from a Sicilian monk that we knew that it was the real mausoleum." John concluded.

Claudia slumped in her chair, "So, let's see the next part is that the shield and sword are gone. They were a part of what you and Tim were guarding." She paused, "Something is missing, right?"

Pete looked at her, "Of course, something is missing. The shield and sword are missing."

John smiled, "No, she is right. You can't activate the shield and sword without this, the monk's letter."

Myka joined back in, "Okay, another missing artifact, an important one, but another missing artifact. What does that have to do with Artie and Mrs. Frederic?"

Claudia smiled, "Because they are headed back to the mausoleum."

"That's right. The letter contains the symbol to activate the artifacts, and so does the mausoleum," John replied. "We'll make arrangements to go to Naples."

"Ah, a little pasta and some wine, how sweet is that," Pete smiled as he swiped his mouth.

"Pete," Myka began trying to get his attention, "Pete, we are going over there to get Artie, not spend all our time in their restaurants."

"What? Just saying, we have to eat sometime," Pete shrugged his shoulders.

_A/N Please review._

_Couple notes: Big Thanks to KJay99 The T-shirts from the Christmas special are for sale at the NBC Universal Store_

www. nbcuniversalstore. com/detail. php?p=289491&icid=xsell (when you use this, you'll need to backspace at n, c, and p to eliminate the spaces)

Hope everyone has a Great Christmas.


	3. Chapter 3 the Mausoleum

Let us do something, while we have the chance.

Just something for the fun of it. Hope you enjoy. I don't own Warehouse 13.

"What really matters is what you do with what you have."  
- H. G. Wells

Chapter 3—the Mausoleum

**Salerno**

"Just what I said, a little pasta and some wine," Pete was in his glory. They had the back room at Ristorante La Piezzo. There were a couple of bottles of wine on the table and bowls of pasta.

"Pete, we did come to get Artie back, not satisfy your longing for the perfect pasta," Myka retorted. She frowned at him as he put another big helping of pasta into his mouth.

"Hey, I'm doing good. Grape juice, remember." Pete held up a pitcher. "You're the ones putting a minor under the table."

Claudia spoke up, "Hey, not. I am not considered a minor over here. I can have wine at a restaurant." She took another sip of wine to prove the point.

"Point taken," answered Pete.

Myka was trying to get serious. They had tracked the ship into the docks at Salerno. Artie's Farnsworth was at some near by warehouses. "Okay, can we get serious? Do we try to get them at the warehouse?"

John put down his glass, "We can go down there and do a little reconnaissance to see what we are up against. But first we need to get to the mausoleum. If we can get the symbol first, then we might have the upper hand."

"Don't you think they would have already found it?" Myka asked.

"Okay, it is a bit of a guess. But since they are keeping Artie at the warehouse, there is a very good chance they have not found the mausoleum," John stated.

Claudia looked up from her pasta, "Do I have to ask?"

"No, let me finish. There are several mausoleums in Salerno. The fact that they have gotten this far is surprising. They had to narrow it down from any of the thousands of mausoleums in Italy. Once in the mausoleum they have to find the symbol. That's where Artie and Mrs. Frederic come in. They have seen the symbol before. One or both will recognize it. Once their captors see that, they will know they have the real symbol," John paused to take a drink of wine.

Myka was curious. It did not make that much sense that the captors would notice what Artie and Mrs. Frederic had, or had not seen. "So, why will they know that Artie has seen it?"

"Either one of them would have a seizure if they have first seen the artifact of Philip," John lamented. "It was the artifact that was designed to destroy the Knights Templar. The Knights used codes to keep their secrets. The symbol we are looking for is a part of those codes. The artifact is purported to work on those who know the code or any part of it."

Myka continued, "So, is there a way to neutralize the Philip artifact?"

Pete smiled through his next bite of pasta, "Just bag it, right?"

"Well, I wish it were that simple. There is a way to neutralize it. The Knights that survived found another code sequence," he thought for a second, "well, that breaks the connection between the Philip artifact and the Templar codes. What's why I had Claudia come along."

Claudia finished a piece of pasta, "What?"

"I believe that one of the rooms in the cave in back of the mausoleum is a code room. The walls in this room contain scripture and then one the opposite wall there is code. I think they are the same thing. We just need you to break the code. Then we will develop a code sequence that breaks the connection. It will be like building a firewall against Philip's artifact," John explained.

"Oh, no pressure," Claudia looked at John like he was crazy. "I hate to break up our meal, but if you expect me to do this, we need to get over there right away."

John looked at his watch, "Yes, we should be going. It is about an hour till they close."

The ride over to the mausoleum took up half of their time. John led the way from the car into the mausoleum. There was a guard at the entrance and a register. John talked with the guard for a while, then shook his hand and waved the group into the mausoleum. They did not sign the register.

John nodded at them when they got into the first room, "We have until morning. Stephen's brother Peter," he pointed to the guard, "will be here in the morning. He'll let us out. But we have to be out before the first visitors arrive in the morning. The entrance to the cave is back this way."

They walked down a long corridor. On either side there were rooms holding the remains of some part of the family. Ornate columns were at the door way to the rooms. Each room was decorated with flowers and figurines cut into the rock. Several had tall statues of family members.

When they got to the back room, John went to the far wall. He moved from burial vault to vault and pushed the corner flower on one of the vaults. The front of the vault swung open. It was dark and there was no coffin inside.

"Here we are. This is the entrance to the cave and the chapel area. Remember, Pete and Myka are to get the symbol. Claudia and I will go to the code room," John was standing in front of the entrance. He held out a copy of the monk's letter.

Pete asked, "Wait, do we just bag the symbol?"

John shook his head, "No, better not. We might be able to get a link established with the shield and sword. It might help us find them, if they are not at the warehouse with the Farnsworth."

"Okay, let's do some hunting," Pete smiled.

"Pete remember, don't touch anything. All of this could have artifact characteristics," Myka added.

"Right, hands in the pockets," Pete responded.

John went first on his hands and knees through the vault. On the other side it opened to the first room of the cave. It was decorated with scriptures and text of the Templar. After they had crawled though the vault and got to the center of the room, John shinned his light to the code room. "We'll be in there. You should probably start here and start your search."

John and Claudia went to the code room. John pointed to the wall on the right, "This is the scripture, and then over there is the code."

Claudia's eyes grew large, "You know it would have helped to mention that the scripture was in Latin. We could have at least picked up a dictionary. It's been years since I used Latin," Claudia exclaimed.

John smiled at her, "I thought you knew it. Otherwise, you could not have broken through the warehouse computers. The firewall there had pieces from each of the warehouses and a big part was in Latin."

"So, you were the one that designed it?" Claudia asked.

"Guilty, I thought no one would be able to get through. I put together the architecture for the firewalls, and Hugo Miller put on the final touches." John turned to Claudia, "But your Latin had to be pretty good to get through there. And yes, I brought a dictionary."

Claudia's face brightened, "Well, at least we have a start." She flashed her light at the first words of the scriptures. "They all start the same."

Pete and Myka were back at the first room. Pete was holding the monk's letter next to a symbol on the wall. "Oh, this will take forever," he said in despair.

"Pete, we are just trying to find something. At least we are not in there trying to crack a code," Myka smiled at him.

_A/N Please review._

_Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Happy New Year._


	4. Chapter 4 the Rose

Let us do something, while we have the chance.

Just something for the fun of it. Hope you enjoy. I don't own Warehouse 13.

"What really matters is what you do with what you have."  
- H. G. Wells

Chapter 4—the Rose

**Salerno**

Claudia's face brightened, "Well, at least we have a start." She and John were in the code room of the mausoleum. She flashed her light at the first words of the scriptures that were carved into the walls. "All of the verses start with the same phrase."

Pete and Myka were back at the first room of the cave. Pete was holding the monk's letter next to a symbol on the wall. "Oh, this will take forever," he said in despair.

"Pete, we are just trying to find the matching symbol. At least we are not in there trying to crack a code," Myka smiled at him.

Pete crossed his eyes and shook his head, "Right. Did you notice that there is like a thousand of these symbols? Even if we just look at the roses like the one on the monk's letter, there are hundreds of them."

"Well, it should be easy. The rose we are after has six pedals on the outside and then four pedals on the inside row. The normal Tudor rose has five pedals on both rows. See all of these have five pedals," Myka replied.

"Right, so now you know about Tudor roses?" Pete asked.

"Some girls play with Barbies, others…" Myka retorted.

"Yeah, yeah. So great one, how are we going to find this?" Pete held up the monk's letter.

"Well, start up there in the corner and scan down to the bottom over there. I'll take the other wall and go to the door way. If we don't find it, we'll move to the next room," Myka pointed to the door. She saw Pete beginning with the corner and went to the other side of the room.

It took almost an hour but they finally finished that room and were on to the next. Myka pointed to a corner and Pete started there.

Claudia and John came into the room. Claudia was all smiles. "We got it!"

"What?" Then after he realized who it was, Pete asked "How?"

"At the end of the first wall we were decoding, the scripture ran out but the opposite wall's code continued. It says, 'the Lord will avenge us.'" Claudia read from a slip of paper.

"Nice and to the point," Pete responded. "I guess they would want a little payback after what the king of France was doing to them. So how are we going to get that to Artie and Mrs. Frederic?"

Claudia held up the memorial handout from the mausoleum, "Simple. I'll just replace this header with the symbols. When Artie and his captors come, the guards can give them this handout. They read it and they'll be safe."

"And how are we going to do that?" Myka asked looking around the room.

"Well, I do have to go back to the hotel, scan this, change the heading, and bring back the handouts to the guards."

John nodded at Claudia, "She got a good plan. But we'll have to be at the door when Stephen's brother Peter takes over as the guard this morning. And there still is a chance that Artie and Mrs. Frederic are taken into the mausoleum before we get back with the handouts."

Pete pointed to the entrance of the cave, "You know. Myka and I could just stay here and catch them as they come out of the tunnel. They'll be coming through one by one."

"Very good Pete, we'll just need to know how many there are. John could stay across the street and just let us know how many are coming," Myka added.

"Fine, now did you find the symbol?" John asked of Myka and Pete. They shook their heads. "Claudia and I will start in the chapel and see if it is there."

Later Pete and Myka had finished that room and where in a burial alcove. The casket was in the center and the walls were trimmed with symbols. They had just about finished the walls. Myka said, "Pete, you were right. This is taking forever."

"Yeah, I am getting nowhere with this," Pete was finishing the last row. He moved over to the casket. "Hey, what's this?" At the bottom of the casket there was a small button. Pete picked it up and looked at it. "This is it. The rose. Look at it. It's small but has all the right markings, six pedals on the outside and four on the interior."

"Let's go show John," Myka smiled at him. It had been a long night and she was ready for them to take a break.

They went over to the chapel and showed John. "That's it. Really good." John looked around. "Rather than stay here, we could go out front. There is a small room we can use until Peter comes."

**Docks of Salerno**

Across town Artie's hands and ankles were cuffed to a chair. He was just waking up from the tranquilizer, "Who is out there? What do you want?" He looked into the darkness of the warehouse. He could tell someone was breathing rather loudly but that was about all.

"Well Arthur, I am glad you could join us," a voice from the dark responded.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Artie asked again.

"Why I am here to break you and the pathetic Mrs. Frederic. That's what I want." The man shuffled a little closer but was still in the dark. "It will all be over very soon. You see we have the sword and the shield of the good Sir Edward. We just need the device to activate it." He had a sinister laugh, "When you see the device, that's when I get what I want."

"You'll never get what you want. Now, get me out of here," Artie growled.

"You people are so ignorant," the man growled back. "We have the key, the kite, the game, and the formula, all because you fell for our little deception. Oh, and I should say thank you for one thing. It was nice of you to topple Surante's regime. He was becoming a bit bothersome, asking for payment all the time." Something that sounded suspiciously like a Farnsworth rang. The man said, "Excuse me. It looks like we are ready. My associates will be back for you, shortly."

_A/N Please review._


	5. Chapter 5 the Poster

Let us do something, while we have the chance.

Just something for the fun of it. Hope you enjoy. I don't own Warehouse 13.

"What really matters is what you do with what you have."  
- H. G. Wells

Chapter 5—the Poster

**Docks of Salerno**

The man in the shadows said, "Excuse me. It looks like we are ready. My associates will be back for you, shortly." He started to walk off. He paused, "Oh yes, we have your bag. If you need anything special, we'll let you get it out. You will have to explain in detail why you need the artifact. And we do have our neutralizer. But be sure you that understand, we have the two of you. A mistake on your part will result in the termination of your participation, shall I say with prejudice."

Artie could hear him walk away. He struggled against the cuffs. It was pointless, as the escort came in next. There were four of them. Two had their weapons at ready while the other two unlocked Artie's cuffs. They roughly pulled Artie to his feet.

As they started out of the warehouse, Artie caught a glimpse of Mrs. Frederic being seated in the first van. His escorts pushed him into the second van. None of them said a word as they headed down the street.

**Mausoleum of Sir Edward **

Claudia was unloading the van with Myka's help. "That's the box of handouts." Myka picked them up and Claudia continued, "I thought about that again. I'm sure Mrs. Frederic would look at the brochure, but I wasn't sure about Artie."

Myka laughed, "Yeah, he probably put it in his pocket and start looking around."

Claudia started pulling out a big board from the back seat. "Right. So, I made a couple posters. We can put one at the entrance and one in the hall."

"So, where did you get this done?" Myka was a little surprised.

"Oh, I made it on my computer. There was a shop like Kinko's next to the hotel. So, I sent it there. Good thing it was a 24 hour operation. They had it ready for me right away." She got the stands out and handed them to Pete as he came up to the van.

"Hey Claud, want to make sure Artie sees this. Good idea." Pete grabbed the stands while looking at the posters. "Should work."

"So, are you still going to wait for them in the cave?" Claudia asked.

Myka replied, "Pete and I will be there waiting for them. John has arranged for additional support once they get in the mausoleum. You and he will be outside, over at that building, coordinating efforts." She closed the van door, "Come on we need to get in place."

They met John and the morning guard Peter in the Mausoleum. Claudia explained the brochure and the posters. Peter showed her the best place for the posters. Pete and Myka went to the cave to begin their wait.

John looked at Claudia and Peter went they came to the front of the mausoleum, "Everything set?"

"Yes sir," answered Peter.

"Good here," added Claudia.

"We're all set too," responded Myka in the earphone.

"Okay, Claudia and I will head across the street and take position. I'll have to relay to Peter's friends any reports on a separate line. Remember these people are extremely dangerous and will shoot with little provocation." John motioned to Claudia and they headed out of the mausoleum.

Myka and Pete were in the cave on the other side of the entrance waiting. It had already been an hour since they got there. "You think these guys forgot what they were doing and are just going to leave?"

Myka smiled, "Pete, you need to work on that patience thing. Why would they come all this way and not go for the button?"

"I don't know. Maybe they weren't after the button. Maybe they're here for something else. I mean who would have guessed that a button was a part of this artifact." Pete pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against.

"Well, you did," Myka replied.

"Yeah, score another for the Pete man," Pete gloried in finding it.

"Yeah well, just how did you find it?" Myka asked.

"Trade secret. Never tell," Pete zipped his mouth closed and winked at her. "Beside, I found it. What could be better?" He got it out of his pocket the looked at it. "Funny how such a little thing has so much power."

"Pete, be careful with it. And it doesn't really have that much power. All it does is activate the sword and the shield. Anyway, do think this will work?" Myka asked.

"Well, if John is right, the button has to be next to the sword and the shield for it to work. I doubt that they, who ever they are, would drag the sword and shield to the mausoleum. They would know they had to get it passed the guard."

"So getting two people passed the guard is that much easier?" Pete asked.

"Well, we know they have to bring them. They must have told them that they would kill the other if anything happened. Artie would definitely try to protect Mrs. Frederic," Myka theorized.

They both heard John next, "Okay folks, we have three vans pulling up to the mausoleum parking area."

Claudia added, "They're black of course. No imagination, here." She looked at John, "What? Just saying."

"They have Artie and Mrs. Frederic. There are twelve of them. Two are staying with the vans. Four of them have weapons out right now. They are machine pistols, looks like an old MAC 10." John reported.

"Oh crap, there is a thunderstorm rolling in," Claudia added. "I guess that means not all of them are here."

"Right, the kite must be flying somewhere." Myka thought about it. "Didn't you say that the kite has to be in back of the path of the storm?"

"That was just an idea. I only had the attack at the bank and then the mint for the analysis. Both storms came over the park and headed to the target area," Claudia answered.

John intervened, "But it makes sense. And this storm is coming from the warehouse area."

"Ah, we need to stop that. You all remember the bank? That vault was blown apart to get an entrance. If they use the key here, the whole cave could come down," Pete was looking at the ceiling of the cave.

Myka looked up and nodded in agreement, "We need you to do something. Pete's right, this won't hold."

John grimaced, "Okay, Claudia go out the back of the building. Stephen the guard will be there with his men. Go with him and four of his men to find the kite." He reached into his coat and pulled a Glock from its holster.

Claudia's eye got big, "Got it. Pete gave me one yesterday." She got up from her chair. Pointing to the earphone, "Will these work at that distance?"

John smiled, "Yes, and be safe. I'm not sure that much more than muscle got out of those vans. I don't think, well be safe."

"John, you are starting to talk like Artie. What are you thinking?" Claudia asked.

"Whoever is controlling this isn't here. They might not be with the kite either. But we have to stop both the kite and whatever they are going to do here." John turned to Claudia. "We can handle here and getting Artie and Mrs. Frederic back. You are going to have to get the kite. Just be careful."

"Be safe. Got it. Unknown bad guy, get Kite, save day. Shouldn't be a problem," Claudia smiled.

Myka and Pete heard the exchange. They stood looking at each other when they heard Peter, "Welcome to our mausoleum. The family has been here since at least 1020 AD. This is a fully operating mausoleum. The family asks that you be respectful of their members. Please sign here. There are memorial brochures to highlight where family members are placed." He gave one to the first couple goons and made sure Mrs. Frederic and Artie got one. When he saw Artie put his away, he pointed to the poster. "You can follow the path shown on the poster to see the family in the order of their burial."

It worked. Artie saw the symbols. He blinked and knew that someone was here to get them. He thought about it and realized the symbols at the top of the poster were a code of some kind. Looking at the poster and the names shown he remembered the old tales of an artifact that was keyed by a code and in-turn protected by a code. His eyes sparkled at the realization. He looked at Mrs. Frederic. She knew too. Her hand was holding the brochure with her finger pointing at the code. Their escorts holding guns to their back shuffled them down the hall.

When they got to the back of the mausoleum, one of the goons from the first car turned to Artie. "We were told there is a passageway to a cave. You're to find it, now."

Artie stepped back and was pushed forward by the man with a gun in his back, "Okay. There must be something that will highlight the way. Wait, the man in the warehouse said you would be bringing my bag. Do you have it?"

One of the goons held it so Artie could see it, "You were also told that you are to give us the details of what you want from it and its use."

"Yes. I need the visual spectrometer. It will highlight where someone has been. We will be able to see which vault has been opened and possibly how. Open the bag and I'll show you which one," Artie directed.

The goon opened the bag and Artie show him the spectrometer.

"See this is where you were a second ago. It reads the latten heat," Artie adjusted the setting after showing the goon. He looked at the vaults and saw the signatures of several people. As he walked down the line of vaults and got closer to the passageway, he saw the outlines of Pete and Myka going through the vault and John and Claudia closing it. Then at the end he could see where John had twisted the symbol at the corner of the vault.

While Artie was looking at the results of the spectrometer, one of the goons pulled a key from his pocket. It was an old skeleton key. He pointed it at the wall of vaults.

Mrs. Frederic saw it, "Excuse me. But I would consider that ill advised." She pointed at the old wood beams of the ceiling. "The discharge would certainly put a hole in the wall but those could collapse on you or depending on the energy used burst into flames. Why don't you let Arthur finish his job?"

Listening to Mrs. Frederic, Artie said, "I found it. The vault we are looking for is right over here. I should be able to just turn here." He turned the symbol and the door to the vault opened. Artie peered through the vault and saw that it was empty. "It's the way into the cave."

Two of the goons scrambled through the vault and shinned a light back, "It's clear. Send them in."

Pete and Myka had their own scramble. They hid around the corner of the doorway to the code room when they heard the vault open. Waiting for the activity to begin, they saw the first two goons come through. They did a sweep of the room and missed seeing Pete and Myka before calling back. They turned to look in the vault when they called out. As soon as they said send them in, Pete and Myka had guns to their heads. When one of them started to react, Pete pistol whipped him and knocked him to the ground. The goon was unconscious.

Myka whispered, "Shh," as she pushed her gun into the neck of the other.

Mrs. Frederic came through first. Myka helped her out. Artie came out next. They heard in the background and through their earphones Peter saying in Italian, "Drop your weapons and put your hands up. We will not hesitate to kill the desecrators of our family's mausoleum."

Next was Claudia on the net, "The kite is down. The kite is down."

When the goon pulled the key from his pocket again, John stepped out from in back of Peter and the family guards. "That won't work now. Hand it over please," John said forcefully.

The goon gave the key to John. John looked over to Peter and nodded. Peter seemed to change a bit and held out his badge. Again speaking in Italian he arrested the intruders with the charges of kidnapping and terrorism.

Pete and Myka sent the one goon through first, then Mrs. Frederic. While she was going through, Pete whispered to Myka, "How does she do that? I mean her hair doesn't look like one strand is out of place."

Myka smiled, "Cause she is the boss."

Artie looked at the two, "So, where is she?"

"Oh, you mean Claudia?" Myka asked. Seeing him nod, "Yeah Claudia, where are you?" Pete gave Artie his earpiece.

"We are over at a little park. It's maybe a half-mile away from the mausoleum. When we headed toward the warehouses, we saw the kite just down the road. The guy did not know how to fly a kite and almost lost it in the tree. Stephen relieved him of his duties and his brothers took care of the other gentlemen that were at the park. I am in the van now head back to you guys," Claudia summarized.

"Nicely done, all of you," Artie gave the earpiece back to Pete. "Here in case something else comes up. You didn't get the guy from the warehouse here, and he probably was not with those flying the kite. Mrs. Frederic is right. Someone else is behind this."

**End Part II**

_A/N Please review, Thanks_


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